Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones’ Top Picks Show Modest Returns but Lots of Potential

Paul Tudor Jones‘ Tudor Investment Corp, which manages about $13 billion has recently been hit by redemption requests amounting to over $1 billion following the firm’s lackluster performance in the last two years and a loss of 2.8% for the flagship BVI Global fund during the first three months of this year. In 2015, Tudor Investment posted meager gains of 1.4% and had a return of 3.5% in 2014. If we take into account Tudor Investment long positions in companies with a market capitalization above $1.0 billion (a total of 1046 holdings) at the start of the first quarter, then the weighted average return of these positions stands at 1.1% for the first quarter. Tudor Investment Corp will file its 13F filing for the end of the first quarter in the next couple of weeks, but, meanwhile, let’s take a look at the performance of some of its picks so far this year.

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#5 Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA)

– Shares Owned by Tudor Investment (as of December 31): 413,400

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $33.60 Million

Tudor Investment more than tripled its Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) holding during the fourth quarter, and the e-commerce giant’s stock price has inched down by 2.50%. The company reached a new high point of its acquisition ventures recently when it announced that it will pay a billion dollars for a stake in the Singapore-based leading Southeast Asian e-commerce start-up Lazada Group. This would mark Alibaba’s largest overseas acquisition to date. In March, Alibaba announced that it had become the world’s largest retailer based on gross merchandise volume. Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management hiked its Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) stake by 40% to 3.08 million shares during the first quarter.

#4 Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC)

– Shares Owned by Tudor Investment (as of December 31): 200,000

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $37.12 Million

Since the beginning of 2016, Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC)’s stock has advanced by nearly 15%, marking a definite win for Tudor, as the company’s merger deal with Charter Communications has been recently approved. The company has been losing its cable subscribers, which account for nearly 80% of Time Warner Cable’s top line. The number has dropped from 13 million in 2008 to less than 11 million at the end of last year. John Paulson‘s Paulson & Co held about 8.12 million shares of Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) at the end of December last year.

#3 Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

– Shares Owned by Tudor Investment (as of December 31): 50,900

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $39.60 Million

A nearly 7% slide in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price since the beginning of the year also didn’t sit well with Tudor, especially given the firm appreciated its holding in the Mountain View-based company by 33% in the fourth quarter. The company posted EPS of $7.50 for the first quarter, below the estimates of $7.97, while the revenue of $20.26 billion was lower than the expected $20.37 billion. Earlier this month, Axiom Securities reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating and $1,001 price target for Alphabet’s stock. Barry Dargan’s Intermede Investment Partners boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 42% to 69,080 shares during the first quarter.

#2 Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

– Shares Owned by Tudor Investment (as of December 31): 379,000

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $42.21 Million

The $13.85 billion global provider of information solutions and human resources business process outsourcing services saw a decent bump of 8% in its stock price year-to-date. In its financial results for the first quarter Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) managed to beat both- the top and bottom-line estimates, delivering EPS of $1.23 on revenue of $728.30 million, versus expectations of $1.15 and $699.06 million, respectively. The company also recently closed its $1.9 billion acquisition of the leading information solutions provider in Australia and New Zealand, Veda Group. Cliff Asness‘ AQR CApital Management was also bullish on the company as it raised its stake by 31% to 1.37 million shares during the October-December period.

#1 Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)

– Shares Owned by Tudor Investment (as of December 31): 1.68 Million

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $176.10 Million

Turning a little bearish perhaps, Tudor cut its stake in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) by 23% during the fourth quarter. However, the stock price has gained 14% since the beginning of the year, boosted by solid results reported by the company. For the first quarter, Facebook posted EPS of $0.77 on revenue of $5.38 billion, beating the estimates. In addition, the company registered an increase in monthly active users to 1.65 billion and significant growth in mobile monthly active users. Egerton Capital Limited, which is led by John Armitrage, fully capitalized on this hike as it hiked its Facebook holding by 23% during the fourth quarter. The bank’s price target of $145 on Mark Zuckerberg’s company provides an upside of 33% to the current trading levels.

Disclosure: None